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A winning strategy: Bank of America Merrill Lynch shifted its focus away from relationship lending to blue-chip firms in order to boost its return on capital in 2012. For its vision, its commitment to M&A and its strategic realignment, Bank of America Merrill Lynch is IFR’s North America Loan House of the Year.
Takeout triumph: A clear takeout strategy is critical when arranging multibillion dollar M&A loans, particularly when an ambitious non-investment grade company is trying to convince high-grade lenders to back its acquisition of a moving target. For its size, seamless execution and an intelligent takeout strategy, Kinder Morgan’s US$13.3bn financing is IFR’s North America Loan of the Year.
Staying the course: While many European banks struggled to stay the course in the face of the economic crisis, Deutsche Bank remained firmly in the saddle to ride out the financial storm. For consistently providing leadership across both investment-grade and leveraged loan markets, IFR’s EMEA Loan House of the Year is Deutsche Bank.
La Grande Snam: Italian gas distributor Snam’s demerger from Eni was backed by one of the largest European event-driven loans of 2012. For astute market read and flawless execution against the backdrop economic crisis in Southern Europe, Snam’s €11bn demerger loan is IFR’s EMEA Loan of the Year.
Phoenix from the ashes: Jebel Ali Free Zone’s refinancing came when the borrower faced a crumbling credit profile and strained market liquidity, hamstrung by the eurozone crisis and fragile confidence in Dubai’s economic stability. For successfully safeguarding Dubai’s reputation, Jafza’s Dh4.4bn Islamic loan is IFR’s Emerging EMEA Loan of the Year.
Reign of steel: Steel products producer Ternium’s financing to acquire a stake in Brazilian peer Usiminas stood out in a market characterised by smaller vanilla transactions. For demonstrating how larger acquisition loans could be syndicated, even in times of great uncertainty, Ternium’s US$700m loan is IFR’s Latin America Loan of the Year.
Ahead of the pack: With the eurozone woes casting a long shadow over the global lending markets, one bank stood out for its unflinching support of its clients and impressive track record in distributing risk. For matching a healthy risk appetite with a flawless market read, ANZ is IFR’s Asia-Pacific Loan House of the Year.
Open sesame: It is not easy at the best of times for an asset-light, privately owned Chinese company to make a debut in the capital markets. For the blowout response to a complex financing with multiple moving parts, Alibaba Group’s US$3bn dual-tranche financing is IFR’s Asia-Pacific Loan of the Year.
Shining a light: For market savvy that allowed it to lead some of the largest and most aggressive US leveraged loans, insight that brought creative solutions to tough credits and a stellar distribution platform, Credit Suisse is IFR’s North America Leveraged Loan House of the Year.
Pumping iron: For redefining the size of the US institutional loan market by nimbly tapping various liquidity pools to place the biggest new-money institutional loan since 2007 at a critical time for the company, Fortescue Metals’ US$5bn term loan is IFR’s North America Leveraged Loan of the Year.
Head over wheels: Burdened by a difficult credit history, German automotive components maker Schaeffler managed to successfully syndicate an €8bn refinancing despite an uncertain European leveraged loan market. Because it reopened the market in 2012 and salvaged the company’s credit structure, Schaeffler’s deal is IFR’s EMEA Leveraged Loan of the Year.
It has been a long road back for RBS’s investment banking unit from the day that the British government stepped in to prop up the bank with a £20bn cash injection. The story of its partial recovery involves two separate restructurings, the slashing of £700bn from its assets, a surprising (and temporary) surge in profits and a series of ruthless decisions.
The process of restructuring Greece’s sovereign debt was, for the banking professionals involved, one of the most complicated they had ever experienced. The fact that it was accomplished in nine months was, perhaps, a minor miracle. Here, IFR examines how the deal made it over the line.
Global investment banking fees are expected to drop 10% in 2012. But that number flatters the reality experienced by a number of market participants. To many, the year felt a lot worse than that.
The JOBS Act has made the IPO process for smaller companies in the US quicker, cheaper and easier. That may have boosted listings – and possibly even employment (and not just among bankers). But has it taken away the time investors need to make informed decisions?
New capital and liquidity requirements under Basel III are likely to have all kinds of consequences – including a slowdown in lending across the spectrum. Banks must find new ways of drumming up capital and cleaning up their balance sheets.
A string of insider-trading scandals in recent years has tarnished the reputation of Japan’s banking community and prompted the country’s Financial Services Agency to review regulations on insider information. Observers hope the efforts will clean up the industry and restore faith in Japanese banks.
It is not easy to kill the loan markets. But with a sharp drop in volumes, the European syndications market certainly looked close to death in 2012. Nevertheless, bankers are confident that syndications will rebound strongly in the year ahead.
Users of derivatives, both in the banking industry and the wider world, have spent months gearing up for the profound changes in regulations that 2013 will bring. But as implementation of the changes comes ever closer, room for considerable confusion remains.
Argentina has imposed capital controls, seized assets, nationalised companies – and shows little sign of yielding in a bitter and long-running legal battle with its so-called holdout creditors. Antagonising the markets is no way to attract the long-term investment the country needs, which raises the question: how much longer can this go on?
From the ECB’s cheap money to the wildly different price expectations of buyers and sellers, there are plenty of reasons why Europe’s banks are not deleveraging quickly enough. Will they pick up the pace in 2013?
A lot of water has passed under the bridge since the Asian financial crisis 15 years ago, and although there is still plenty of work to be done, the region has made spectacular progress. The current turmoil in Europe has left Asia looking like a safe bet.